Six possible routes mapped for streetcar

By Vianna Davila :
March 28, 2013
: Updated: March 29, 2013 9:23am

Former Congressman Charlie Gonzalez, VIA's new chief of public engagement, talks with Chip Henderson (from left), Betty Eckert and Lynn Knapik after potential streetcar routes were presented to the public.

Photo By TOM REEL

Richard Briggs (from left), Cindy Copeland, Gina Macchiaroli and John Yoggerst check out maps as alternate routes for the VIA Metropolitan Transit streetcar system are presented to the public at the main library downtown on March 27, 2013.

Photo By TOM REEL/San Antonio Express-News

Susan Green stands up with printed photos to make a point against the street car effort as the Express-News and the University of Texas at San Antonio bring together a panel of experts to discuss the controversial VIA streetcar issue before an audience at UTSA's Downtown campus on Thursday, June 26, 2014.

Photo By TOM REEL

Streetcar proponent Alex Briseno makes a point while addressing Jeff Judson (left) and Heywood Sanders as the Express-News and the University of Texas at San Antonio bring together a panel of experts to discuss the controversial VIA streetcar issue before an audience at UTSA's Downtown campus on Thursday, June 26, 2014.

Photo By TOM REEL

Streetcar opponent Jeff Judson makes his point while Alex Briseno listens as the Express-News and the University of Texas at San Antonio bring together a panel of experts to discuss the controversial VIA streetcar issue before an audience at UTSA's Downtown campus on Thursday, June 26, 2014.

Photo By TOM REEL

Ron Van Kirk (left) poses a question to Rick Pilgram after alternate routes for the VIA Metropolitan Transit streetcar system are presented to the public at the main library downtown on March 27, 2013.

Photo By TOM REEL

Rick Pilgram takes questioners one at a time after alternate routes for the VIA Metropolitan Transit streetcar system are presented to the public at the main library downtown on March 27, 2013.

Photo By TOM REEL

Jerry Geyer writes records his input on a message board as alternate routes for the VIA Metropolitan Transit streetcar system are presented to the public at the main library downtown on March 27, 2013.

More Information

As San Antonio inches closer to building streetcar lines through downtown, it will consider six alternate routes, including two that would thread tracks along Broadway and past the Alamo.

The prospect of a rail line through Alamo Plaza worries some residents, who fear more transit would further erode the historic quality of the battle site.

“Streetcars are a good thing, but not over the site of where our patriots died,” said Sarah Reveley, an Alamo collector and former member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Reveley, who otherwise supports the notion of a streetcar system, spoke at a public meeting held Thursday night to unveil the alternative lines for the system, which is expected to cost between $190 million and $200 million.

VIA will spend the next several months addressing concerns and the particularly tricky puzzle of adding five miles of rail in a downtown long on history and with narrow streets.

The agency plans to select a north-south and an east-west route in August. The system should be built and running by 2017.

Up to now, much of the public discussion surrounding streetcars has been about the feasibility and value of the system, with questions about both the project cost and public support for the plan looming large.

Now VIA is getting down to the business of actually planning where the lines could go. The closer VIA gets to settling on a precise route, the more likely people are to support the project, VIA's interim President and CEO Jeffrey Arndt said.

Reveley's concerns about the Alamo have been echoed by the San Antonio Conservation Society, which also opposes a streetcar line on Nueva Street because it could interfere with its annual NIOSA Fiesta event.

The conservation society also has opposed the idea of streetcars traveling through the middle of Hemisfair Park, a possibility included in four proposals. Two of the proposals suggest the line should run alongside the park's southern edge, on César Chávez Boulevard.

A number of people who spoke Thursday were decidedly anti-streetcar, or at least wobbly about the idea.

Michael Dennis, among a group of vocal streetcar opponents Thursday, distributed a flier called “Streetcars — Cost Too Much Do Too Little,” detailing how much money opponents like him believe VIA will lose with the addition of streetcar service.

He said learned a few things at the meeting but that did nothing to sway his opinion on the matter.

Al Rendon, who owns a studio on South Alamo Street just south of César Chávez, said he's still not sure whether to be for or against the project. He likes it from a business standpoint, but still isn't clear how construction could affect parking or the aesthetics around his building.

“The process is really vague,” Rendon said. “I would like to see it, but there's a lot of unanswered questions.”

“It will only improve the city as far as livability, transportation, quality of life,” Williams said.

But Williams believes VIA still has a ways to go before it lands on the right plan, worrying at least one proposal looks thrown together in an attempt to satisfy everyone.

“I think eating the whole pie at once is a little extreme,” he said.

Diliberto said progress has been slow enough.

“I fear if we start smaller, it's going to take forever,” to build the system, she said.

The debate about streetcars was visible just about everywhere. Attendees were invited to write their comments on poster-board size notepads set atop easels. On one, a commenter begged VIA not to disrespect Alamo Plaza further; another scribbled a sense of excitement about streetcar. At the top of the sheet, an attendee branded the project a boondoggle. Just below that comment, someone wrote, “wrong!” and drew an arrow pointing up.